Waterfowl decoys are used by hunters or photographers to attract waterfowl to desired areas. Typically, the user of waterfowl decoys will arrange a grouping of decoys on the surface of a pond or other body of water, or arrange decoys in the meadows, fields, or swampy areas adjacent to a body of water. The hunter or photographer setting the decoys strongly desires to mimic the appearance of a natural waterfowl flock. Live waterfowl are hopefully attracted to the pond or field upon which the decoys are set through association of the presence of the decoys with a safe and suitable habitat. Waterfowl have keen eyesight. Therefore, it is critical that the deployed decoys accurately mimic live waterfowl. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the decoys will be compromised.
Typical prior art decoys mimic waterfowl at rest. Wings or wing-like structures, if present at all, are merely painted or molded in a folded and retracted position against the waterfowl decoy body. Certain types of waterfowl are particularly sensitive to an unnatural arrangement of decoys on the surface of a pond or field. Geese in particular will often notice that all of the decoys have their wings folded and that none are flapping their wings in preparation for a takeoff or landing. This presentation is quite unnatural and can cause geese to shy away from a pond or meadow since at least a few members of a wild goose flock on the ground will be stretching, flapping, or otherwise moving their wings at a point in time. Hunters have long recognized that one or two decoys which feature a flapping wing mechanism can aid in luring a wary goose flock.
Accordingly, various designs have been developed for decoys which mimic wing flapping behavior. Many of the prior art designs are simple structures where kite-like wings merely flap or spin in the breeze. Somewhat more sophisticated designs feature an articulated joint at the decoy shoulder which allows wings to flap up and down. Natural waterfowl such as geese, however, engage in several more sophisticated wing motions, none of which is particularly well mimicked by a simple kite-like wing structure. For example, a goose in flight will flap its wings up and down with respect to the body at the shoulder joint with minimal flexure at its elbow and wrist joints. When a goose lands, however, the wings are flapped fully down at the shoulder joint and the wingtips are folded against the body at the wrist joint, presenting the typical, streamlined waterfowl profile. Furthermore, when a goose is landing, it first flaps its wings while in the air above the ground, then more or less simultaneously descends to the ground while folding its wings. All of these types of wing motion must be matched to effectively mimic a natural waterfowl with a flapping wing decoy.
Sophisticated wing motion such as described above could potentially be reproduced using robotics and electromechanical componentry. Such a sophisticated, robotic implementation, however, would be quite expensive and subject to failure in the sometimes harsh climate of a marsh environment during hunting season. A need exists for a relatively simple mechanical device which can be simply actuated by a hunter or photographer in a blind, and which provides for the sophisticated mimicking of various natural waterfowl wing motions. The present invention is directed toward overcoming one ore more of the problems discussed above.